Brianna Hartsfield and Cheri Hartsfield
Welcome to Business Innovators Magazine…Please introduce yourself and a brief thumbnail of your background.
CH: I am Cheri Hartsfield a native of IL, a wife, mother of five and follower of Christ. I have a career in banking and real estate but my long term experience has been in nurturing my family and working in ministry in several capacities namely and most recently Pastor.
With my husband, Dr. Ivan Hartsfield, we are planting another church in the Phoenix area. Previously, we planted four churches in the IL and WI region and during that time I created and directed a dynamically spiritual annual women’s conference which is called an advance because the weekend long event advances the participants in the relationship with Christ. Many powerful testimonies have come from the advance including divine healings. Soon, in Phoenix, I will resume the advance in this new location with a great expectation of a powerful move of God.
BI: Congratulations on the success of your book, “How I Learned that…Healing is the Children’s Bread: A Pediatric Cancer Journey of Faith and Healing” that you recently published debuting #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list, that is an INCREDIBLE accomplishment, what inspired you to write it?
CH: Thank you. My inspiration was the tremendous experience our family divinely overcame when my 8-year-old was diagnosed with Leukemia and we were planting a church while going through our third lay-off.
BI: Can you tell me of a defining moment for you while going thru this journey, a moment that was so key to fighting this battle?
CH: Sure, it came at the moment I wrote about in chapter four my book, Healing Bread. You are perhaps familiar with the moment I learned about what the Stem Cells doctors do, help patients when the cancer returns. The day I learned about the role of Stem Cell was the first time Brianna was seen by a Stem Cell doctor. I was afraid the reason Brianna had been seen by this doctor was because she was no longer in remission. I was completely distraught as I waited for her usual doctor to see her. In that moment of complete fear of a new and possibly deadly fight starting over again with poor results, God brought someone to me in the hospital to speak peace to me. He let me know without a doubt it was him speaking and it was the words that he used through this other mom in the hospital that gave me the inspiration for this book and the title.
BI: Please tell me how Brianna is doing today?
CH: Praise God, Brianna is well. She has earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and now has a career in teaching.
BI: How has this experience affected your family?
CH: At the time, we had wondered for more than a month why Brianna’s health was deteriorating and we had no health insurance or money to get extensive medical care. For our family, we had lots of pain from not having adequate income. When Brianna got sick from out of nowhere, it was an insult to injury that turned our lives into a whole new focus, get Brianna well and whole again.
BI: How has this experience affected your faith?
CH: God gave us a Job experience to teach of His power and faithfulness. What we went through, multiple things at once, yet God took care of us and healed Brianna, taught us more about God’s love for us and his power to heal, protect and provide. Because of God’s faithfulness toward us we have a great faith in him.
BI: Who should read this book?
CH: Our story was told to encourage those who need a miracle from God; to help parents and care-givers navigate the medical care process for a child; and to teach the reader that there is power in prayers to Christ.
BI: What would you say to anyone going through a similar experience? What would your message be to them?
CH: The Bible tells us that God cares for us and those that belong to him, that live for him can have faith in him. So, I say know God that you can trust him enough to pray for his help in your time of need. For those who don’t know him through his son, pray to him in your time of need because he is merciful. Never give up hope in God’s love and care for you or his willingness to answer your sincere prayers.
As for the medical process, strive to learn all you can, take lots of mental notes and ask good questions and many questions. Push for answers, be involved in the process, and never settle for unsatisfactory responses or conclusions. My advice was born out of the experience I had when Brianna contracted pneumonia while on chemo. I had to push for her to be treated when no on-call doctor cared.
BI: When I read your book, it was so GRIPPING and emotional, I could not put it down, are you getting similar feedback from folks that have read the book?
CH: Wow, that’s awesome. Yes, I have had people awkwardly say that they enjoyed my book, not sure if “enjoy”was the right word. There were others who said they just wanted to take a peek at the beginning and two hours later they realized they had read the whole book. Some have read it more than once and thought it to be well written. Very moving, some I have said with OMG! OMG! I had no idea anyone would have gone through that. Because of the response of many I have had a pop up book signing already!
BI: You were very transparent in your book, what was you intent in sharing so personally?
CH: As a leader who has counseled many and taught many more and even coached people in life, academic and career choices, I shared my own story to demonstrate the ability of God to direct in uncharted territory even we don’t no what’s coming and are i’ll-prepared for the unknown.
I speak and write in a self declosing manner to encourage, lift up and lead people to Thrive. So much so, that our new church plant is called Thrive. More about our ministry is at 2thrivenow
BI: To wrap this up, what are you most excited about in the upcoming months? Projects, TV appearances?
CH: This month, my family and I will be on the God-Made Millionaire Show on the Word Network to talk about our experience. My audio book will be soon to follow. And another women’s advance in 2023 is in the making and I have several more books on healing to bring to market.
BI: That is so exciting! How can our readers connect with you?
CH: The best way to connect with me is thru my website at: https://www.CheriHartsfield.com
